How to set up a maintenance agreement program

What a maintenance agreement is for

A maintenance agreement, also called a service agreement, membership or club, is a paid plan that gives customers scheduled maintenance visits and a set of benefits in exchange for an annual or monthly fee. For the company, it smooths revenue between seasons, keeps technicians busy in shoulder months and creates a group of customers who call you first when something breaks. For the customer, it removes the need to remember maintenance and gives them priority when they need help.

Programs fail for predictable reasons: too many perks to deliver, prices that do not cover the visits, billing that lapses, and visits that never get scheduled. Building in the right order prevents most of them.

Step 1: Define the visits

The visit is the core of the plan. Decide how many visits per year, when they happen and exactly what each includes, written as a checklist the tech follows and the customer receives.

• HVAC: ENERGY STAR recommends checking the cooling system in the spring and the heating system in the fall^[1]. Its checklist for a typical contractor visit includes tightening electrical connections and measuring voltage and current on motors, lubricating moving parts and checking the condensate drain^[1].
• Electrical: an annual safety inspection of the panel, breakers, GFCI and AFCI protection, smoke and CO alarms and surge protection.
• Appliance: annual cleaning and inspection of dryer vents, refrigerator coils, dishwasher filters and washer hoses.
• Garage doors: an annual tune-up with balance and spring check, lubrication and a safety reversal test.
• Pest and lawn: the visits are usually the service itself; the agreement adds perks and priority.

Write each checklist in plain language and keep it the same for every tech. Customers who receive the completed checklist after each visit see what they are paying for.

Step 2: Choose a few perks

Perks give the plan value between visits. Fewer, well-chosen perks are better than a long list you cannot deliver. The usual ones are priority scheduling, a discount on repairs, no extra charge for after-hours or weekend service, and waived service call fees. Cost each perk before you include it; the detailed costing is in HVAC membership perks customers actually value.

Step 3: Price it from cost

1. 01

   Cost the visits

   Tech time per visit, including drive, at your loaded hourly cost, plus materials such as filters or lubricants.

2. 02

   Cost the perks

   Estimate how often members use each perk and what it costs you, such as the average repair discount per member per year.

3. 03

   Add admin and billing

   Scheduling time, reminders, payment processing and renewals.

4. 04

   Add margin

   The plan should make money on its own, not only through the repairs it leads to.

5. 05

   Check against the market

   Compare with local plans for similar visits and perks, then decide where you want to sit.

Example: a fictional HVAC company prices a two-visit plan. Each visit takes about 75 minutes including drive at a loaded cost of $70 an hour, or about $88 per visit and $176 a year. Filters and materials add $20, expected perk costs (repair discounts and waived fees) about $40, and admin and billing $15. Direct cost is about $251 a year, and the company prices the plan at $299 a year, or the equivalent in monthly payments.

Step 4: Structure the tiers

Two tiers are usually enough. A third tier that few people choose adds complexity to every conversation.

Step 5: Set up billing

Billing is where many programs quietly lose members. Decide between annual prepay and monthly billing; monthly payments lower the barrier but need card-on-file and good failed-payment handling. Whichever you choose, get written authorization for recurring charges, send a receipt for each one, and notify members before any change in price.

• Annual: one charge, simple, but a larger number at renewal.
• Monthly: easier to sell, steadier cash flow, more failed payments to chase.
• Failed payments: retry automatically, then email or text the member, then call.
• Cancellation: make it easy, confirm it in writing and state any refund rules.

Many states regulate automatically renewing plans, including how renewal terms are disclosed and how customers can cancel. Read auto-renewal laws for memberships and check your state’s rules before launch.

Step 6: Plan renewals and visits

Members renew when they receive what they paid for. Schedule visits proactively rather than waiting for members to call, and plan capacity around your seasons. Air conditioning is nearly universal in parts of the country: AC use was 93% of households in the South and 92% in the Midwest, against 73% in the West^[3]. Spring tune-ups in those regions need to be booked before the first hot week, when repair calls take over the schedule.

• Book each member’s next visit at the end of the current one.
• Fill shoulder months first: spring cooling checks before peak heat, fall heating checks before the first cold snap.
• Send a renewal notice ahead of the renewal date with a summary of the year: visits completed, issues found, savings from perks.
• Call members who have not been serviced in the last cycle before their renewal comes up.

If you use an AI Employee such as Ava to answer calls, it can book routine maintenance visits into the windows you set, so members who call get a slot without waiting for the office.

Step 7: Launch to existing customers first

1. Train the team: CSRs, techs and comfort advisors explain the plan in the same three sentences.
2. Offer it to recent customers, starting with those whose equipment you just serviced or installed.
3. Present it at the end of every service visit: “Members get [perks]. Would you like me to sign you up today?”
4. Add it to new installs, with the first year included or offered at signing.
5. Put it on the website with the visit checklist and perks, and the price if you publish prices.

Homeowners are already thinking about maintenance. In Angi’s 2025 survey, regular maintenance was the top planned home project, at 32% of homeowners, ahead of interior painting at 20%^[2]. A clear plan meets that intention. For the sales conversation itself, see selling memberships on calls.

Step 8: Track the program

Review these monthly. If renewals fall, check visit completion first; unserviced members are the most common reason plans stop renewing.

Programs for other trades and multi-trade companies

The same launch order works outside HVAC. An electrical contractor can sell an annual safety inspection with priority service and a repair discount. An appliance repair company can sell a yearly whole-kitchen and laundry check. A garage door company can sell an annual tune-up and safety test. What changes is the visit checklist and which perks make sense for how often that equipment fails.

Companies that offer several trades can combine them in one home plan, with one visit per trade per year and a shared set of perks. Keep each trade’s checklist separate so the right tech does the right work, and price the combined plan from the sum of its parts, as described in bundling services.

Launch mistakes to avoid

• Selling plans before the visit checklists and scheduling process exist.
• Launching in peak season, when there is no capacity to deliver the first visits.
• Letting techs promise perks that are not in the written terms.
• No owner for the program: someone must watch billing failures, unscheduled visits and renewals every week.

Why maintenance is worth selling

Maintenance is not a sales gimmick. ENERGY STAR says nearly half of the energy used in a home goes to heating and cooling^[4], and its maintenance guidance warns that a dirty filter can increase energy costs and damage equipment, leading to early failure^[1]. A plan that makes sure the work gets done is a real service, and members who see the checklist, the photos and the results after each visit become your most loyal customers.